CREDIBILITY by Susanne Furman
In Credibility, the concept of credibility is examined and explored. The term itself is defined in the article as 'believability or trustworthy' by Dictionary.com. Most scholars are said to believe that the idea of credibility is a "perceived quality" and that there are two key components that serve as pillars for the concept: trustworthiness and expertise.
DICTIONARY.COM
trustworthy - worthy of being trusted; honest, reliable, or dependable
expertise - special skill, knowledge, or judgment; expertness
FACTORS IMPACTING CREDIBILITY
Appearance is a key factor in whether something, such as a website, is deemed as credible. If a website doesn't look professional, then odds are that people are not going to regard it with any level of seriousness when considering the information being communicated. Take certain magazines for instance, such as Sun and Globe. The images on the cover typically scream with fiction, so the content inside, no matter how valid or factual it may be, lacks credibility. A show like TMZ documents real events and activities involving celebrities, but it does not have credibility due to the fact that the "paparazzi" has garnered a name for itself that is not very reputable. Reputation and appearance are certainly two of the biggest indicators of trustworthiness and expertise. The article highlights specific factors impacting credibility of websites, as seen below:
- Younger respondents (age < 27.9 years) were harsher on sites that had typos or broken links.
- Men assigned lower credibility ratings overall.
- Respondents, who completed graduate schools, as compared to those with no college experience, assigned more credibility to Web sites that conveyed markers of trustworthiness (e.g., site is linked by a site user thinks is believable, sites states its policy on content, or site represents a nonprofit organization).
- As compared to the least wealthy respondents (i.e., income < $20,000), the wealthiest third (income > $60,000 USD) assigned more credibility to sites that used tailoring (e.g., site requires user to register or log in, site recognizes user was there before).
If a website has a font that is legible and people can read it, then the website will be more successful in establishing itself as a credible source. According to the article, "Users consistently attributed personalities to fonts. Serif (e.g., Times New Roman, Cambria, Georgia, etc) and sans serif (e.g., Arial, Verdana, Calibri) fonts were seen as more stable, practical, mature and formal." The "personality" of a font does not communicate credibility. Whereas, "The Script/Funny (e.g., Rage Italic, Gigi, Comic Sans, etc) fonts scored high on youthful, causal, and attractive and modern display (e.g., Impact, Rockwell Extra Bold and Agency FB) and mono-spaced fonts (e.g., Consolas and Courier New) were not seen as particularly high on any use." I found it interesting that the study also determined that, in addition to the creative and artistic fonts not measuring up in credibility, the neutral fonts (such as Courier New) also fair poorly and result in "decreased trust, professionalism, and credibility."
ROLE OF GENDER AND PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY
This was a mixed bag. Different studies yielded different results. Women tended to be more critical than their male counterparts in this study. Thus, I conclude that the gender of the website author, despite its recommended importance as a factor in credibility (via the article), is not a quality measure of website credibility.
IN CONCLUSION...
In the end, the article concludes that the aesthetic appeal and presentation of a website weighs in heavier as an indicator of credibility than assessment of the creator. So, if it looks credible, then it must be... I guess. Perception is reality, especially to most people surfing the web. There are other factors that people consider when deciding whether or not the information they are reading is credible, but the appearance of a website is a key factor, according to this study. Beauty may not be skin deep, but credibility on the web must be.
THE IMPACT OF AESTHETICS by Jennifer Chen
PERCEPTION IS REALITY
As with the article, Credibility, this article too notions that the appearance of a website is a key factor in determining the value or validity of the information that it contains. The aesthetics of a website evoke emotions and attitudes, which ultimately shape the way in which we value the information provided on the site.
DEFINING AESTHETICS AND EMOTION
In the article, the term aesthetics is defined as "the study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty. More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as a critical reflection on art, culture and nature." The article mentions that there is cultural influence when it comes to aesthetic appeal. It goes on to say that, in a particular study, people were given 100 websites to rate, with only 50 seconds to view and evaluate the website. In 2 different sessions, the participants from each expressed a high level of correlation and agreement in regard to their judgments of the websites that they viewed and rated. Thus, it can be concluded, that people have a generalized concept or ideal for what is aesthetically appealing, and websites that are aesthetically appealing garner more respect than those that are not, regardless of the information it contains.
EFFECTS OF USER MOTIVATION AND INTEREST
The article examines the concept of "consumer product involvement" and how certain products are high-involvement (expense, utility, endurance) or low-involvement (inexpensive, one-dimensional, temporary). People put more thought into high-involvement products than they do low-involvement items, for obvious reasons. Thus, high-involvement consumers have more interest in the information on a website than the appearance or design. Whereas, low-involvement consumers are interested in what looks good.
WEBSITE COMPLEXITY
Too much or too little content on a website can prove to be detrimental and interfere with the "effectiveness of the site's communication and the user's perceptions of the site"; driving users away. Thus, it can be concluded that "a medium level of complexity affords optimal communication effectiveness" (Geissler, Zinkhan, & Watson, 2006). So, I guess you could say that middle of the road complexity is the way to the consumer's home.
PERCEPTIONS OF CREDIBILITY
Provide a human touch with the use of photographs. Don't overdo it with graphics, because it damages perceptions of professionalism. Keep it simple and consistent to maximize usability. Offer news and current updates to enhance quality of information.
THE IMPACT OF USABILITY ON AESTHETICS
Looks can be deceiving... A website that is attractive tends to yield higher levels of success, but the quality of the product that the website is promoting ultimately has the final say in whether or not the website has sustainability. People need to be satisfied by the product in order for the website to be truly successful. You can have a great looking website on which you are selling dog poo, and while you may have great success in generating hits and selling the product in the beginning, people will not be satisfied by the product and thus consumer reports and overall satisfaction with the product will lead to the demise of the website.
FINAL ANALYSIS
If it looks too good to be true, it still looks good. People will value websites with aesthetically appealing design and favor the information according to the emotions that are evoked. There is emotional appeal to a website that has images, photographs, and information to which we can relate. These websites make us feel like we are looking into a mirror and validate our identity. Looks may not be everything, but they are certainly something.
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